The Dark Reality - Metro Last Light 2033 OneShot
by Googleguy11
Summary: Artyom feels as if something is wrong after the little dark one left, he decides that he needs to find more answers and embarks on a new journey.


_I feel guilty about leaving. I know I am the Metro's hero and I saved us from the reds at D6 but... Something doesn't seem right. It has been a year and I have still seen nothing of the little dark one. As I leave the cold depths of the Metro I feel strangely satisfied with my decision to leave, as if what I do now is completely justified. Which it is not._

Artyom held out his hand to block out the blinding sun of the surface. He remembered what that child he met on his way to Polis had said about the sky. To him, the sky was like a painted ceiling, almost alien. It isn't right for humans to live down in those underground tunnels, but they had to pay the price for abusing the power they had.

Artyom's eyes eventually adjusted to the sunlight and he was able to move on. It was strange seeing the tall fresh grass of summer, he's only seen what it was like on the surface in Winter and the beginning of Spring. As Artyom climbed through ruin after ruin, avoiding watchmen and demons, keeping an eye on his filters, he wondered about his goal. He honestly didn't even know where he was going, he was steadily running out of air and he doubted his radiation suit would last more than two days in the open.

That's when it hit him. The library, it's where he went for the location of D6. There must be some other information in there too, about maybe even the dark ones and where they came from. Artyom hastily made his way to a nearby Metro entrance. As Artyom reached the theatre building, a watchman jumped him, it pinned him to the floor began to claw hastily at him. Artyom did his best to hold it back with his right hand as he fumbled around his belt to find his knife. The beast eventually scratched a hole into his helmet, leaving Artyom exposed to the deadly radiation of Moscow.

Artyom stabbed the beast in the throat and tore a large hole down it's chest. Blood spilled all over the man's body as well as some of the beast's intestines. the watchman let out a long howl before it fell dead to the floor. Artyom coughed a bit as the irradiated air made it's way into his gas mask. He then felt a hanging dread fall over him as a demon in the distance turned around and flew towards him. He pushed off the watchman's corpse and ran as fast as he possibly could towards the metro entrance. He took out his revolver and fired at the demon as he ran.

When Artyom reached the escalator he felt safe but then screamed in fear when he realised that he wasn't rolling down an old beaten down escalator, but was instead in the claws of one of the most feared creatures in all of Moscow. Artyom desperately grabbed onto the edge of the building he was being dragged out of. The demon roared in frustration and pulled on him harder. If he didn't act quickly, the beast would tear his arms off. He holstered his revolver and quickly pulled out his shambler. He shot the creature five times in the head and it let go.

The beast flew away, leaving Artyom to fall to the ground with a lout thud. Artyom coughed and wheezed as more and more irradiated air slowly entered his lungs. He quickly got up and turned around. Loud howls sounded around the lone figure as a pack of watchmen surrounded him. Artyom pulled out his revolver and aimed at them. Fear struck through his very soul as multiple clicks came from his gun. He turned and ran, the entrance wasn't very far, if he put in more effort, he would make it. Artyom jumped on one of the rails, as he did a watchman tried to jump him but missed which lead to it falling roughly down the battered stairs.

When Artyom reached the bottom, he jumped off the rail and rolled towards the door. He pounded at the door. "LET ME IN!"He screamed. A watchman pounced onto him, forcing him to defend himself. He pulled out his knife and stabbed it directly in the eye. Blood burst out of it's eye as it fell to the ground. Artyom's vision began to go blurry and his coughing was louder than ever. Another mutant jumped onto him scratched at his suit. He wasn't strong enough to kill it and blacked out.

Artyom was amazed when he woke up again, gasping for air. His throat hurt bad, and the radiation had definitely taken a permanent toll on him.

"Hey, Hey, easy there. You've got bad radiation sickness, it's a wonder you're still alive."

The doctor injected some kind of green liquid into Artyom's blood stream.

"This is a chemical developed in Novosibirsk. It will apparently cure radiation sickness. I'm giving this to you now because we have never used this chemical, there was only two in the whole Metro."

Artyom nodded in gratitude, It would hurt his throat to much to speak anyway.

"As for your throat, we do not know when or if it will heal, so you will have to just wait and see."

Artyom nodded again and got off the bed.

"Woah there, you'll need at least a week to fully recover and we don't even know about the side effects of the green chemical!"

Artyom just pulled out his ranger's badge, showing who he was and that he was on a mission.

"... Of course."

The doctor moved out of his way and went to analysing his medical equipment. On a desk outside the room he found his battery charger, lighter, journal, backpack, ammo and filters. His guns were hung up on a rack on the wall of the room. He strapped his shambler to the left side of his backpack, he put his revolver in it's holster and strapped his Kalash 2012 to the right side of his bag. He found his hazard suit and spartan helmet in an old locker. He donned his attire and walked out of the medical bay.

Artyom walked out into a loud bustling market. It was hard for a ranger such as himself to blend in so he decided that simply moving quickly was his best course of action. He entered the armory and pointed to the pristine gas mask hung up in the back.

"seventy-eight bullets."

Artyom dug through his pockets and managed to luckily find the exact amount he need. The shopkeeper handed him them gas mask and took his bullets. Artyom left the armory and headed towards the rail system.

"What's your business here?"

Artyom took out his badge and replied in a loud croaky voice.

"Home."

"Oh, well.. Y-Yes sir."

The engineer readied his railcar and came back in an hour,

"Your railcar is ready, uh- sir."

Artyom didn't like it when people called him sir but couldn't speak out against it so he let it slide. He got on his railcar and prepared for the long journey.

"Hey wait!"

Artyom quickly turned his head to see a young man running towards him.

"Can I please come with you? I really need to get to Polis as soon as possible."

Artyom nodded and motioned for him to sit on the opposite end of the railcar. The boy jumped into the railcar and sat opposite the ranger. Artyom activated the railcar and started their trip to Polis.

"So... you uh, you must be wondering why a young man like me wants to travel all the way to Polis. Well, you see my father is a ranger, like you, and one day he left saying that there was going to be really important battle at... I can't remember the name of the place, I think it was B8 or something. Anyway, he said that there was going to be a really important battle there and that he needed to be there. Well he hasn't come back in a long time so my mother began to fear the worst, so I wanted to go check on him for her..."

Artyom was honestly glad he could barely talk at this moment because he really didn't want to be the one to tell him that his father is most likely dead.

"...Do you happen to know what happened there? I mean you are a ranger."

Artyom hesitantly shook his head and looked behind the boy. The young man started to talk about something else but Artyom didn't listen, he saw something behind them and that is never a good sign. Artyom soon saw a bright flash, and then another. It was an anomaly. Artyom had only had a few experiences with it and the only thing he knew to do was to stay at the side of the tracks and do not move.

The anomaly began to get closer and closer, Artyom then grabbed the boy in his arms and jumped off the railcar with him. They landed on the edge of the tracks. The boy tried to move but Artyom kept him in a tight grip. The anomaly moved slowly past and eventually going further down the tracks with the railcar. Artyom released his tight grip and let the boy go.

"What the hell was that about!?"

Artyom pointed at the anomaly from on the floor. The young man stared at it, wide-eyed. Artyom slowly brought himself back to his feet as the boy comprehended what just happened to him.

"What the fuck was that!?"

Artyom stayed silent and offered him his shambler.

"W-Wait, you want ME to take that?"

The boy was shocked but took the gun anyway. Artyom started walking down the tunnel, when he realised the boy wasn't following him, he turned around and motioned for him to follow. There was no one there. There was only Artyom's shambler that clanged slightly on the floor. Artyom wearily walked towards it and picked it up.

_I am still confused about the boy's death. It was so sudden and unneeded that it took me completely by surprise. What on Earth was it and how was it so fast and silent? There's only one thing in the whole Metro I know could do something like that. But there's no way that even they could pull off something that quick and well done._

Artyom found his way to Polis once again, though multiple mutant and Hanza encounters made it almost impossible, but he somehow pulled through. As Artyom once again found himself in the ranger headquaters of Polis, he would have to quickly make his way back to the surface to avoid being seen by Anna or even Miller. Once Artyom made his way to the gate, it was strangely unmanned. Artyom didn't have time to worry about it though as he quickly pulled the gate open.

"Artyom! Where the fuck have you been!?"

Colonel Miller was on the other side of the gate. It was a trap.

"Do you even realise the penalty for desertion, or even what has happened since you left!? The order needs you, and just up and fucking leave!?"

The outraged colonel Miller ranted on and on at Artyom about how irresponsible he is and how much people needed him. Artyom shoved Miller out of the way and ran past the other rangers beside him.

"Get him!"

Artyom could hear the other footsteps following him as he sprinted up the escalator. He jumped over a crack in the road and landed safely on the other side. a watchman noticed him and howled for it's pack to join it's hunt. Artyom got on his feet and ran as fast as he possibly could towards the library. mutants chased him and the rangers had disappeared. Artom ran straight in through the library doors. He sprinted through the main hallway into the lobby.

The door in front of him was once again locked so he ran around the upstairs walkway to a hole in the wall to the left of the door. Artyom dived through the hole and landed in a room full of old books. He quickly got up and patched the hole by moving an old bookcase in front of it. He sighed as he collapsed to the floor in exhaustion.

_I am now back in the library. I never thought I would ever have to go back to this horrifying place again, but here I am. I feel incredibly guilty about abandoning my brothers in arms like that, but I have to keep moving. I don't even know if I could stop if I wanted to now. It's like something is permanently pushing me to keep on, never stopping, even for a moment._

Artyom slowly got on his feet and walked into a large room full with old books of the old world. He walked up to the large balcony with an old wooden pedestal on it from the old world, used for speeches or something. He walked through the door to the right that lead to his destination last time he was here. Artyom heard a loud thud behind him and turned around. A librarian crawled through the door and roared loudly at him.

Artyom ran full sprint from the terrifying creature. As he ran into a dark room with holes and cracks in the floor and ceiling. A piece of the ceiling fell down into a perfect ramp. Another librarian ran down it towards Artyom. Artyom ran around the beast towards the ramp it made with the ceiling. It was steeper than he had expected and he had to climb up it as quickly as possible before the librarian got him.

As Artyom reached the next floor, the ceiling collapsed on the librarian. Artyom sprinted to an old destroyed elevator shaft, jumped into the shaft, grabbed the metal cable and made his way down to the bottom floor. He landed on an old librarian corpse from his last trip here.

_This place is a small personal hell for me it seems. As I make my way deeper and deeper into the archives, I feel as if I'm being toyed with. It's a haunting feeling that what I do now is not of my own will._

Artyom reached the secret military and government archives once again. He searched through all of the drawers for something that even slightly related to the dark ones. he had stacked a pile of some potential documents about them in the corner. He eventually found a metal folder with the word "Answers" crudely inscribed on it. He opened the folder and rejoiced when he saw pages with writing about the dark ones and even blurry pictures of them.

Artyom unzipped his bag and put all the dark one related folders in the front pocket. When Artyom turned to exit the room, a librarian blocked his exit. Artyom took out his Kalash 2012 and prepared for potentially the last fight of his life. As the beast reared up and roared at him, he fired rounds straight into it's belly. It howled and went back down on all fours. It swiped at Artyom with it's left arm, Artyom ducked under it's arm, took out his knife and cut all along it's large arm. The beast screamed as blood poured out of the large wound in it's wrist, Artyom had struck a vein.

Artyom continued shooting at the beast, avoiding hits and cutting up it's arms. Artyom eventually hit it's eye, enraging it and making it charge at him. It pinned Artyom to the ground, it's large claws dug deep into his back as it grabbed his arms, making him arch his back in pain. All the while Artyom continued to fire at the large beast. When his clip ran out, he threw the gun at the beast, hitting it in the eye and disorientating it. The beast released his grip on Artyom, letting blood pour from large holes in his back and chest.

Artyom took this moment to jump onto the beast and stab it in the eye with his trench knife. Artyom screamed as he stabbed the beast multiple times in the eye. eventually the librarian fell to the ground, blood seeping out of it's eyes. Artyom got up and stumbled out of the room. endless amounts of blood poured out of his wounds, he would surely bleed out. As Artyom stumbled out of the room, the librarians avoided him, either out of respect, or they were waiting for him to die on his own.

Artyom slowly climbed out of the basement and back out into the old streets of Moscow. He leaned against the wall of the library. As his vision faded, he saw the little dark one slowly approach him, it grabbed his arm and everything began to glow, soon all his vision had gone white. Then blackness.

**Ok so this took me like a day straight. hope you enjoyed. I haven't edited it yet so there might be some misspellings here and there. Also 2861 words, yay.**

**-GoogleGuy11**


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